Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Cookbook Review - Best of the Best from the Deep South Cookbook

Most of y'all who are here reading this are regular readers of My New 30 and know I have a food blog, Deep South Dish, that was, in fact, born out of this blog.

When I received an offer to review this cookbook, Best of the Best from the Deep South, I knew right away that it was going to be a cookbook that both I, and my readers, would love. Well, I was right! If you love the kinds of southern dishes that I feature at Deep South Dish, then you are going to fall in love with this cookbook and want to add it to your collection. If I were to write and publish a cookbook, this would be it!

If you've been reading here awhile, you already know how I feel about the "Best of" series of cookbooks because I've given them away here before. I own several of them - mostly from the southern states - and I am never disappointed in any of them. Each state cookbook - and yes, there is a cookbook covering every state - contains about 400 recipes, all contributed by well loved cookbooks from across that particular state - usually at least 80 different cookbook sources! And every cookbook presents you with not only great recipes, but also photographs, and little tidbits, facts and pieces of trivia about that state that makes them even more interesting and fun to own.

Just when I didn't think that they could top this, Gwen McKee and Barbara Moseley, the southern ladies behind this beloved series of best selling state cookbooks, now introduce the first volume in their new regional series with Best of the Best from the Deep South. This regional series will soon include cookbooks from the East Coast, Plains, the Southeast, Midwest and Pacific Rim regions. I can't wait!

Want to know how to make the best Alabama fried chicken? Or Mississippi catfish, hush puppies and coleslaw? How about Louisiana's great gumbo? It's all here - all of the special flavors that come out of The Deep South in the foods that you love. Some examples of the recipes that you'll find in this great collection include:

Have a peek at this fantastic Sour Cream Coffee Cake I adapted from a recipe in the cookbook this weekend! With layers of pecans, cinnamon and brown sugar on the bottom, top and in the center of this cake, it is just delicious. I know that's only one recipe you'll fall in love with because this cookbook is filled with the kinds of recipes you find right on my own blog.

Thankfully, the publisher has offered me the opportunity to share a copy with one of you! I truly only wish that I had 100 copies to give away, but I can tell you one thing for sure. This cookbook is definitely going on my gift list for upcoming bridal showers and definitely for Christmas gifts and I know it will be well received.

Leave one comment here about what your most favorite southern recipe is and how it came to be your favorite. Share some memories! One thing ... you must leave an email contact, or have an email linked on your Blogger profile, for your entry to count!

Earn bonus entries by any one or more of these ways:

1) Post about this giveaway on your own blog or a social bulletin board, linking back to this post. Come back here and leave a separate comment with a link to where you posted.

2) Copy and paste the tweet below to your Twitter followers about this giveaway and link to this post. Come back here and leave a separate comment letting me know you tweeted.

Cookbook giveaway 'Best of the Best from the Deep South,' from @DeepSouthDish: http://tinyurl.com/ykpmhwc

85 comments:

One of my favorite dishes was one my father would make from time to time. Surprisingly, I have never seen it in any restaurant I've been to or in a cookbook or at anyone's house. This dish is very simple:

Pour one can of tomatoes into a saucepan, add a Tablespoon (or to your taste) of margarine and some salt. Heat on low 'til warmed. Add about 4 to 6 slices of bread, torn into pieces. Stir together and serve over hot rice.

I have learned just last year that this is a recipe that was common during the great depression and also around hobo camps along railroad routes. Well, my dad was a young boy during the great depression and my grandfather worked for a railroad company.

Last year, I found only a few references to this dish online in various forms (some included sugar--yuck!).

I cannot pick a favorite! I learned to cook first from my grandmother. Love all of the old southern 'staples' she used to make! She did a lot of the old timer's style cooking and baking, but nothing spicy-and using ingredients available home-grown or purchased in our area. At age 13 I could bake a cake without a recipe!

I love "visitin" with you and have tried a few of your recipes. We lived next door to an elderly lady when we moved to Marrero and I would love to smell what was cooking in her kitchen everday! I learned to make roux from her along with alot more.

One of my favorite Southern foods would have to be buttermilk fried chicken and homemade mac-n-cheese.

Growing up Mom would always make fried chicken and boy was it yummy. It was only as an adult that I learned fried chicken wasn't supposed to be soggy! (no offense Mom *grin*) But she gave me a love for it. What better to go with it though than mac-n-0cheese...but not that boxed stuff. It's got to be the real homemade version dripping in freshly grated cheese, heavy cream and BUTTER!!!

I also joined the FB fan page and have twittered about it. I also posted a link to the give-a-way on my blog. Happy cooking everyone!

Fried okra! My Mama used to fry okra with cornmeal only in an iron skillet. She didn't bread each individual piece, but threw it all in there togethr and fried it up nice and crispy. I used to love to mix it with pinto beans. I have never been able to recreate her recipe and she has since passed away.Angelakajkbishop(at)charter(dot)net

I'd have to say that hushpuppies and fried chicken is one of my favorites. My hubby and I want to travel someday but now is not an option. So we get cookbooks from all over the US. I make us a nice supper from an area we would love to visit someday.

I love love love Banana Foster. I don't know where I first had it but I can telly you that one of the places that I did the tasting for when I got married had the best version of it I ever tasted. I know that the first time I had it though I was with my mother. My mother was born in the south but raised in Texas and in California. I have been born and raised and lived most of my life in the Mid-West.

I love reading your blog everyday..I love the potatoe soup with chesse and bacon..I made it for my kids and they loved it..I would lve to have a copy of this book so that I can make more wondeful eals for my family...

Being from the deep south (south of New Orleans....yes there is land south of New Orleans) I'd have to say my favorite southern dish would be anything that contains cornbread. I absolutely love the stuff!!!! I honestly could eat it daily. Mmmmm I think I will go and bake some now!

My favorite southern recipe is my Granny's fried okra. She uses fresh okra from her garden, breads it with cornmeal, then fries it in her iron skillet until it is black. It is not done until it is burned! Yum!

A few years ago we were traveling down south (Mississippi) to be exact and we stopped in this mom and pop type of eatery...a cafe. I got this delicious peach cobbler and topped it off with some freshly made peach ice tea. Since that time...I drink peach ice tea every week! Love my peaches!

One thing I would like to try that I have never tried is crawfish from the south.

Only one? Fried okra. My mom died over 20 years ago before I learned how to make it and I finally cracked the code this past year. An iron skillet makes the difference. Then there's chili beans and cornbread, chicken and dumplings, macaroni and cheese. Can't pick one fave.

One of my favorite deep south dishes has to be goulash. My grandma would be pressure cooking meat, when I would arrive home for school. I knew we were going to have a great supper with Goulash, cornbread (with honey butter) and sweet tea. My mouth would water. One day, I foolishly was trying to sneek into grandma's pressure pot to get some goodies. Don't let anyone tell you, you can't open a pressure cooker by hand. I did and it landed me in the emergency room with burns to my neck and chest. Yes, ma am, I learned my lesson right quick.

I would SO love to win that cookbook. I would love to learn to make southern fried chicken. Whenever we have ventured south, the fried chicken we've had has been so superior to anything we get up here! My mouth waters thinking of it!

Hoppin' John is my favorite southern recipe. Such a melding of flavors and textures. Both warm from heat and from spices. Also, it comes with memories of celebrating each New Year with family and friends -- an entirely different warm, but oh, so filling!

Thanks for offering the book so that we can share not only recipes, but wonderful memories.

My favorite southern recipe with the most memories for me is my Momma's cornbread dressing. One reason is it is delicious, but the main reason is it reminds me of my family and many wonderful memories of my life. Just the smell of it cooking in the overn is pure comfort for me. We always have this dressing at Thanksgiving of course, but also Christmas and usually Easter too.Reneavrkirtley@yahoo.com

Way to many to mention - I love tomato gravy and biscuits (my mother still mixes her biscuits in a wooden bowl using only her hands as utensils) I also love boiled peanuts - I never knew that boiled peanuts were not known everywhere until someone (from the north) looked at me like I was crazy when I mentioned them hahahaha and the list could go on and on and on

There are too many favorites to pick from, Mary, but candied sweet potatoes is one dish passed down from my grandmother to my mother, to me. I know it's sweet, but I LOVE it! My family cannot celebrate Thanksgiving or Christmas without them! And then there's fried chicken, chicken fried steak; I could go on and on!Great giveaway, Mary- sounds like a great cookbook.

One southern meal I love and you don't see alot is for Ham with cornmeal dumplings - that's about as southern as you get!! My Mom could make em so good along with her homemade biscuits (yes, with lard!)This looks to be an interesting cookbook - Good luck!

I also am a FB fan. Love the coffe cake. I agree that DH makes good mixes. Have you tried the Mountain Dew cake? Very similar, just use Lemon DH mix, box of instant lemon pudding, 4 eggs, 2/3 cup oil and 1 can Mountain Dew. It is a hit for lemon lovers!

My nanny made the best biscuits I have ever had, they were topped with homemade butter and blackberry jam. My job was to gather the eggs from outside and then she would let me sift the flour. Everything she cooked was done on/in an old wood stove and no matter what it was it seemed to taste better then anywhere else. My favorite to make would be Pecan Pie or Brown Sugar Pie.fairisle01@yahoo.com

My favorite recipe is one that was published by Southern Living mag. back in the 80's for spicy fried chicken, it has lots of pantry herbs and spices and makes a nice dark crust and very flavorful...I am drooling now.

My favorite recipe is my shrimp remoulade. I guess the thing that makes it special to me is the dork way I came up with it. take a look here: http://seersuckerandsazeracs.com/blog/2008/6/8/crevettes-remoulade.html

My mom used to make a similar recipe to LindaCinKY's, using canned tomatoes with macaroni. She added a little butter, some flour and milk, salt and maybe pepper, added cooked macaroni and fed the whole family... Served it with some home-canned green beans and cream-style corn, a pan of corn bread and a cold glass of milk-- and that was a meal we looked forward to!

As a lifetime southerner born and raised in west Tenn., it would be hard to decide what my favorite southern recipe is. Just never learned to love grits. My most recent favorite now that I have learned to make real roux is gumbo, particularly shrimp with andouille.

My special deep south dish would be "Homemade Biscuits". The recipe is pretty standard but what makes them special is the connection to my Grandmother. She made them everytime we visited and I am the only family member who learned how to make them from her. Just before she died, I made a batch and got them right...she loved them :). She has been gone 30 years but I think of her everytime I make those biscuits. Thanks for letting me share. My email is Strickland85@yahoo.com

I love my PawPaw's BBQ chicken. He would sit outside with it all day long. But my favorite southern recipe is my mom's potato salad. With five kids she had lots of I don't like thats to work around but her potato salad was awesome and still is. When she visits I usualy have the potatoes already cooked for her. I remember everyone wanting her ot bring that to church potlucks, funerals, everywhere. Everyone loved it.

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